Should Have Been
by MaryRoyale
Summary: Hermione was brutally murdered, and her death still affects those who have been left behind to pick up the pieces. One Shot. Lumione.


Summer of 2017

"Daddy?"

"Do we-"

"-have to go to Hogwarts?"

Lucius blinked for a moment and stared at his daughters. Twins—where did _that_ come from? They were adorable little minxes, but every now and then they would do something that hinted at the incredible beauties they would become, and then he knew true fear. Long blond hair fell to their waists, held back from their faces by headbands. Wide silver eyes watched him, waiting patiently for his response. They had his coloring, but they each had a miniature of their mother's face. His heart constricted momentarily in his chest. That she never got this chance to watch her children grow up was the cruelest cut of all.

"Why wouldn't you want to go to Hogwarts?" He asked in surprise. "Your brother is there. Scorpius is there. The headmaster is your Uncle Severus. I would think you girls couldn't wait to go."

"But, Daddy,"

"If we go-"

"who will stay with you?"

"Ah," he said finally. His heart twisted painfully at that. "You think your poor father will be lonely? That I'll pine away for you both?"

"Umbrus says…," One of the girls, Abraxia, started and then bit her lip.

"What did Umbrus say?" Lucius asked coolly.

"Well, He said that sometimes twins are sorted into separate houses. We don't want to be in separate houses. We want to stay together." Proserpina added.

"Umbrus says a lot of things," Lucius said darkly.

Two teenage boys ambled into the study. One of them looked a lot like Lucius: from his pale blond hair, to his gray eyes. The other boy was slightly taller than his counterpart, and his shoulders were slightly broader. He had light brown hair that tended toward unruly curls and wide gray eyes. His face was a blend of Lucius and his mother—the best features of both parents.

"Grandfather," the blond said politely. "Father says he'll be a little late, he had a meeting."

"Thank you, Scorpius." Lucius said with a nod.

"Hey squirts," The other boy said with a wicked grin. The twins rushed him for hugs.

"Umbrus! You're back! Daddy, Umbrus is home!"

"I see that," Lucius said, narrowing his gaze on his son. Umbrus sighed and hunched his shoulders slightly.

"What?" He muttered.

"The girls were just begging me to not make them go to Hogwarts," Lucius informed his son coolly. Umbrus flinched.

"Father, I didn't mean for them to freak out! They asked, and I answered," he explained. "Look, Abraxia, Proserpina, I talked to Uncle Harry and he says that you can tell the hat that you want to be together, okay?"

"For real, Umbrus?" Abraxia demanded. Umbrus knelt down to her level and put an arm around her.

"For real, Abraxia. I promise." He murmured into her hair. She hugged her brother back.

"But, Daddy," Proserpina said with worry in her voice. Lucius swept her up into his arms and cuddled her against his chest. She was the quiet one, the sensitive one. Of all their children, Proserpina's temperament reminded him of _her_ the most.

"I will be fine. Draco will come and check on me and make sure I don't wither away without you." Lucius teased gently. Proserpina frowned at him, and for just a moment it was _her_ frowning at him. Pain radiated out from his heart, and he fought to control it. Even now, even after all these years—it hurt.

"Is there any danger of that, father?" Draco drawled from the doorway. Abraxia ran to him for a quick hug, but Proserpina was worried and she stayed in the safe, secure arms of her father. He tightened his arms around her, and pressed a light kiss to her blond hair.

"No, but our girls have decided that I can't survive without them," Lucius said dryly. Draco gave his father a pointed look.

"I always said they were smart little witches," he finally said carefully. They had learned to never say _her_ name. Draco would never be so foolish as to say out loud that he thought the girls got their intelligence from _her_.

His half-brother, Umbrus' eyes flashed at him, and Draco gave him a very small nod. Poor Umbrus. He resembled _her_ the most physically with his unruly, wild chestnut curls. It had been so hard for Lucius to be around his young son who reminded him of everything that he'd lost. Now as a teenager, his relationship with his father was strained in a way that saddened Draco. He remembered when the boy had come home from his first year at Hogwarts and sullenly worn his Gryffindor school tie all summer, rubbing his father's nose in the fact that he was most definitely _not_ Slytherin material, that he was like _her_.

"So, father, are you going to take the girls shopping, or will I be taking the whole tribe to Diagon Alley myself?" Draco asked coolly, studying his nails. _Please make me do it, father. Don't do this to him. Please don't do this to him._ Lucius looked down at Proserpina's worried face pressed against his shoulder.

"Would you be willing to go with Draco?" Lucius asked Proserpina. She looked at Umbrus whose face had gotten that shuttered closed-off look that he did sometimes, and her eyes sought her twins'. Abraxia's jaw was tightened and her eyes were veiled. She nodded at her sister and Proserpina turned back to her father.

"We'd like that Daddy." Proserpina said finally.

"We want to get everything with Umbrus," Abraxia said firmly, sliding a hand into her brother's and clutching at it firmly. Proserpina nodded agreement.

"Very well," Lucius said mildly, pressing another kiss to Proserpina's brow.

The children left the room in one excited gaggle, talking about the places they'd be going and what they'd be purchasing. Abraxia and Proserpina had raced up to their shared room to get their Hogwarts letters so that they would know what they needed. Lucius rose and walked to the window, looking out at the grounds, watching the peacocks strut back and forth. Draco watched his father for several moments, but said nothing. Lucius Malfoy was a changed man, but most of those changes were for the better. Draco remembered that oh so brief golden time when his father had smiled freely and laughed often. He thought about the incredible witch who had wrought miracles in the Malfoy patriarch. Smartest witch of her age, Draco thought fondly. Then his insides grew cold as he remembered the end of that time: the heartbreak, the agony in his father's eyes when her body had been portkeyed to the Ministry as revenge for daring to 'rise above herself' by falling in love with Lucius Malfoy. The rage when they'd seen the things done to her. It had been a closed casket funeral, of course. Trying to explain to a four year-old Umbrus that Mummy wasn't coming home because his father was almost catatonic with grief and unable to do it himself. Draco shoved those memories away, but he couldn't rid himself of the sense of regret. They had only had a few years of happiness. It was so unfair. _She_ had deserved so much more than that. She should have been here. No one else could make Lucius toe the line like she had, not even Draco's mum. He rolled his shoulders and moved to stand near his father.

"It seems so odd, even now," Lucius muttered, still staring out the window.

"I know," Draco agreed. It was creepy how like his father he was becoming, the Malfoy heir thought irritably.

"It should have been different," Lucius said so softly that Draco almost didn't hear him.

"Yes," Draco agreed again.

"I miss her, even after all this time. Isn't that odd?" Lucius gave a half-hearted laugh that fell flat.

"Not really, father," Draco said mildly. "We all do."

"Yes, I suppose that's true." Lucius admitted quietly.


End file.
